Norman Bethune's Role In World War 2

Norman Bethune
A Canadian hero in World War II

Aoqian (Bell) Zhang CHC2D1 April 23rd 2015
“Comrade Bethune was a doctor, the art of healing was his profession and he was constantly perfecting his skill, which stood very high in the Eighth Route Army's medical service.
He worked as a stretcher- bearer at Ypres. The intense war and horrific damage made Bethune realized that he has to minimize useless waste of life and reduce the suffering of both soldiers and civilians. Bethune helped the Canadians, but there was nothing he could do to protect soldiers from wound and die from the German gas attack on April 24. He had begun to question the means to have a war as he wrote in a letter from the front: “The slaughter has begun to appall me. I’ve begun to question whether it is worth it. Attached to the medical services, I see little of war’s glory, and most of war’s waste.” Also the zigzag trenches made it harder for stretcher-bearer to carry wounded soldiers. He had to carry wounded soldiers for more than kilometers. The machine gun bullets and shells explosion made his task more dangerous. Both physically and mentally, Bethune had suffered a lot during the First World War. Bethune and his comrades’ contributions were huge, because they saved countless lives in the First World War. Bethune returned to Canada after a shrapnel shell’s piece hit his leg. His experience in the Ypres was hard, but he was an excellent doctor at the
On September 18, 1931, Japanese entered Manchuria, the northeastern part of China with their best troops and artillery led by Lt. Suemori Kawamotoa. The resistance from China was weak, because General Chiang Kai-skek, leader of the Nationalist Party of China, concerned only about fighting with Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party of China. In 1937, while Bethune was still in Canada, Japanese attacked Nanking, the capital city of China, with brutal action as they killed more than 350000 people and raped 80000 women. Bethune wanted to help China because he was in the Communist Party, and ought to fight against fascism. However, China was not a country like Spain, where facilities are well quipped. Even though the condition in China was harder, Bethune started to rise for funds and people to go to China. Bethune and his medical team include a doctor called Charles Parsons, and a nurse called Jean Ewen went to China on January 8, 1938. When he arrived in Shanxi-Hobei border region of China, he worked as a surgeon and a teacher. On his way to the headquarters of the communists’ party, he met a major Japanese attack that destroyed the rail way, so Bethune and Jean Ewen had to travel with a mule train loaded with food. Bethune had never suffered such hardship before, but he didn’t give up his advancement toward the communist party of China. He experienced bombs falling down just like in Spain,